Rainwater is collected from the roof and provides 85% of the water needed to flush the toilets inside.

Crissy Field Center is a state-of-the-art youth education facility that includes classrooms, a science lab, an art room, an administrative space and the Beach Hut cafe. Children from around the Bay Area come to the center on school field trips and can also take classes to learn about the environment, plants, animals and much more. The smart building works to minimize energy use with the help of a building monitoring system, natural daylighting, a cool roof membrane, low-e windows, and a tight, insulating thermal envelope. The 7,500 sq ft facility does not have air conditioning and instead relies on natural ventilation for cooling when needed.

The project was completed in a short 9 months using Project Frog’s panelized prefab building kit. Inside the building features low or no VOC materials, salvaged redwood, InterfaceFlor carpet tiles made with 70% recycled content, and sustainable and reclaimed furniture an cabinets. The roof features both a solar thermal system for hot water as well as a photovoltaic system to generate electricity. Soon the facility will also have four wind turbines for additional energy generation. Rainwater is collected from the roof and provides 85% of the water needed to flush the toilets inside. The project is currently seeking LEED Platinum certification and was awarded the Green Building Award (Northern California) from California Construction’s Best of 2010 and the National Park Service’s 2011 “Building the Future” Environmental Acheivement Award.